Greetings. Making a transition from web developer to network engineer.

Discussion in 'New Members Introduction' started by paulo30, Feb 12, 2009.

  1. paulo30

    paulo30 New Member

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    Hello all.

    I think this will be an interesting site to be a part of.

    So many people arriving here, full of hope, dreaming of that new future and beautiful career in IT. I really hope there are a good number of wise and experienced people frequenting the forums to help shepherd the uninitiated through.

    The reason I say this is because I actually came across the site when searching for the reality behind the promises made by IT training companies. The thread I stumbled into was exploring the pitfalls of one particular company. It comes as no surprise to me that well marketed IT training companies are considered by many to be edging towards irresponsible in their approach.

    I don't mean to cast a negative spin on things - just encouraging a healthy awareness!

    My main reasons for being on here are:

    1) to avoid shelling out large amounts of money where not necessary
    2) to determine what certification path i should pursue
    3) hopefully to discover a subset within this community of folks who are in a similar place to me
    3) to maybe help other people (once I've been about for a bit)

    So with my opener out of the way, I'd be interested to know where people think i should pitch myself in terms of certification since I do have some experience - Should I explore this here or is there a more appropriate place for this in the forums? I can post my CV, just don't want to do it in the wrong place!

    Thanks for any pointers.

    Paulo
     
    Certifications: - none -
  2. BosonMichael
    Honorary Member Highly Decorated Member Award 500 Likes Award

    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    Welcome to the forums!

    I would recommend certifying on anything you have experience doing. A whole CV isn't necessary - what are the highlights of your current job responsibilities?
     
    Certifications: CISSP, MCSE+I, MCSE: Security, MCSE: Messaging, MCDST, MCDBA, MCTS, OCP, CCNP, CCDP, CCNA Security, CCNA Voice, CNE, SCSA, Security+, Linux+, Server+, Network+, A+
    WIP: Just about everything!
  3. Kitkatninja
    Highly Decorated Member Award 500 Likes Award

    Kitkatninja aka me, myself & I Moderator

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    Hi & welcome to CF :)

    -Ken
     
    Certifications: MSc, PGDip, PGCert, BSc, HNC, LCGI, MBCS CITP, MCP, MCSA, MCSE, MCE, A+, N+, S+, Server+
    WIP: MSc Cyber Security
  4. Big_nath

    Big_nath Kilobyte Poster

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    Hi and welcome.:)
     
    Certifications: MCP, MCSA, MCSA:M, MCSE, MCTS
    WIP: A few
  5. AAMinistry

    AAMinistry New Member

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    Welcome! :)
     
    Certifications: None
    WIP: None Yet
  6. nXPLOSi

    nXPLOSi Terabyte Poster

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    Welcome to CF :)
     
    Certifications: A+, Network+, Security+, MCSA 2003 (270, 290, 291), MCTS (640, 642), MCSA 2008
    WIP: MCSA 2012
  7. Notes_Bloke

    Notes_Bloke Terabyte Poster

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    Hi & welcome to CF:D

    NB
     
    Certifications: 70-210, 70-215, A+,N+, Security+
    WIP: MCSA
  8. paulo30

    paulo30 New Member

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    Thanks all for the welcome.

    BosonMichael, I accept your point re the CV.

    I actually just got made redundant so there are no current job responsibilities. In my last job, my remit was part web development, part sys-admin, part project-manager. I've fallen out of love with web development and wish to pursue an area that I have found I enjoy, namely working with networks and systems administration. It's the troubleshooting aspect I like. This desire to change direction is what is prompting me to seek certification since generally such things are needed to get through the door interviews it seems.

    My web background has generally been working with Perl on Linux alongside MySQL and Apache. (LAMP no-less). I'm also ofay with client side languages and markup - ie javascript / html etc.

    I understand the workings and setup of a private LAN which has often made me a useful chap to have about. (In fact, I am literally about to head to my local pub where they will be cooking me a steak in return for mending their network :D )

    I can build, install and configure a webserver or a desktop happily enough and understand the hardware side of things and am familiar with the operation of bios / boot loader / os.

    I am also comfortable working remotely on a Linux system and using lots of the related tools. Not too hot on writing shell scripts but happy enough mooching around in ssh and can string a few commands together to make useful little chains with basic sed and awk etc.

    I understand how to setup a simple local samba file share and can carry out the necessary admin.

    I'll not go on much more for risk of boring you all. In short, I've never been a network or sys-admin by title, but I've learnt how to get by as I've gone along.

    One more thing i will mention (to add to the picture of where I am at) is about how I recently debugged a client issue where they couldn't upload files over a magic number of Kb to our server. After tracking deeper and deeper into TCP/IP using Ethereal, it turned out to be related to a bug in the version of the Cisco firewall that was being used. I was complimented by the Rackspace team for my analysis of the situation.

    So, I'm thinking probably CCNA as a starting point. I'm also thinking, my CV is all very Linux oriented and I'd be interested to break into the whole microsoft, active directory, exchange server kind of arena, so maybe MCSA/E (to be honest i don't yet fully understand how these differ). Or maybe I'd be best of rounding out my Linux skills first with a cert in that.

    Any comments appreciated.

    Paulo
     
    Certifications: - none -
  9. paulo30

    paulo30 New Member

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    well, perhaps I would have ignored my post too - a bit wordy in the end

    I think CCNA is the way to go

    (paulo wanders off to find the CCNA related forum)
     
    Certifications: - none -
  10. BosonMichael
    Honorary Member Highly Decorated Member Award 500 Likes Award

    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    I guess I would give you the same advice as I gave above: I would recommend certifying on anything you have experience doing. If you have even a small bit of Cisco experience, the CCNA is worthwhile.
     
    Certifications: CISSP, MCSE+I, MCSE: Security, MCSE: Messaging, MCDST, MCDBA, MCTS, OCP, CCNP, CCDP, CCNA Security, CCNA Voice, CNE, SCSA, Security+, Linux+, Server+, Network+, A+
    WIP: Just about everything!

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